Date: Thu, 18 Jan 1996 06:26:36 EST
From: TCCP00D@prodigy.com (MR ANDREW B EDDY)

A forwarded message submitted to the Broward Log Cabin Club of Florida by a
member who requested it be circualted.

From:   LeeWalzer@AOL.COM
Date: 96-01-17 23:24:46 EST

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The following is a fax I received at work today from SPPR -- it deals with
a recent spate of anti-gay incitement and worse by the Ultra-Orthodox.  In
response, SPPR, Israel's principal lesbian and gay rights organization,
through its lobbying arm, Otzma (Strength), plans to take out ads in the
country's major newspapers, but needs to raise $$ to pay for the cost of
the ads.  You can e-mail your intent to contribute to:
rkaplan@hum.huji.ac.il SPPR's address (to mail checks to) is PO Box 37604,
Tel Aviv 61375, ISRAEL.  SPPR's phone number is 972-3-6204327.  Its fax is
972-3-5252341.  LET'S  MOBILIZE FOR OUR ISRAELI SIBLINGS!

URGENT

Your help is urgently needed!  On December 12, 1995, an Israeli parliament
member who is also a Rabbi, speaking at the Knesset issued a death sentence
for homosexuals.  Immediately afterwards, the Society for the Protection of
Personal Rights and several of its activists received written death
threats.
 The home of two other gay rights activists was ransacked.  Death threats
continue to come, some to Knesset members who are supportive of the gay,
lesbian and bisexual community.  These letters warn of "strange and unusual
deaths" and promise to continue in the way of the "righteous Yigal Amir"
(the confessed assassin of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, z"l).

Otzma is now turning to all of Israel to condemn the intolerance and
threats of violence which are becoming epidemic in this country.  We are
producing a petition denouncing these senseless attacks on gays, lesbians
and bisexuals in Israel, as well as all threats on innocent groups.
Already signed by more than 170 artists, university professors, community
leaders, civil rights activists and others (including A.B. Yehoshua, Natan
Zach, Rivka Michaeli), this petition will be published next week in
Israel's leading newspapers to draw the whole nation's attention to this
growing problem.  However, publishing a full-page announcement with the
text (see below) and the names of the signatories will cost over $7500.  We
are turning to you for your help in covering these costs so that we can
join as one voice in denouncing this intolerance.  We hope to raise 50% of
our expenses from outside of Israel.

Any amount will help.  Please send us your contributions now so that we can
publish this petition.  Checks should be sent to Otzma (payable to the
SPPR) at the address above.  Given the urgency of this matter, your prompt
answer is needed.  You can call, fax, or e-mail us with your pledge and
then mail your check as soon as possible.  We thank you for your support
and help.  Please share this letter with your friends and encourage them
too to send a donation.

TEXT OF PETITION

On December 12, 1995, a member of Knesset and Rabbi in Israel speaking from
the Knesset floor issued a death sentence for homosexuals.  Immediately
afterwards, activists in the gay, lesbian and bisexual community received
threatening letters and the home of two of them was broken into.  The
letters continue to arrive and are becoming more severe, to the point of
threatening "cruel and unusual deaths, expressing praise for Yigal Amir and
promising to continue in his path.  We, the undersigned, in condeming in
the harshest manner this incitement and violence, support the struggle of
gays, lesbians, and bisexuals for equal rights.  We call to all of Israel,
religious and secular, to express openness and tolerance, in the spirit of
the Declaration of Independence, toward all segments of society.


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